Unusual Vegetables…

I saw yougrowgirl’s photo on Instagram of the book “Unusual vegetables: Something new for this year’s garden“. The font on the cover reminded me of old gardening books I had when I was young. I was curious and looked it up on Amazon. The cheapest new copy was $103.52… but they had a used (very good condition) for … so I went ahead and bought it.

Asian Plum & Cherry Graft Progress… and Garlic Planting…

I was going to start grafting onto our Plum tree, but our neighbor decided to take down part of our shared fence (without telling us) and fix it up…

Plum 'Inca' Graft Progress

So I decided not to graft and just take inventory of the Plum and Cherry grafts that survived. Some grafts didn’t make it, but several seems to have survived:

– Plum ‘Golden Nectar’ (Graft 2012-01)
– Plum ‘El Dorado’ (Graft 2013-03)
– Plum ‘Inca’ (Graft 2011-01)
– Plum ‘Sierra’ (Graft 2011-03)
– Plum ‘Elephant Heart’ (Graft 2009-04) Folia
– Plumcot ‘Burbank’ (Graft 2012-02) Folia
– Pluot ‘Flavor Supreme’ (Graft 2010-04) Folia
– Cherry ‘Merton Premier’ (Graft 2010-01) Folia
– Cherry ‘Burbank’ (Graft 2011-08)
– Cherry ‘Lapins’ (Graft 2009-02) Folia

Sprouting Garlic

The Garlic Folia we harvested last year (but haven’t used) are starting to sprout.

Sowing Garlic Bulbs

I split them apart and planted each bulb into a cell pack. Once they grow a little more and root out, I’ll plant them in the garden.

Front Yard Gardening…

I got a bunch done in the front yard garden. I first did a bunch of weeding and cut down dead plants and flower stalks to tidy up the front garden a bit. I noticed that the Rudbeckias and Foxgloves seem to have survived the winter. I’m not too sure about the Echinacea though; it look like they might have died. There are a bunch of Sparaxis growing now, and they look like they will bloom a about a week or so. In the clear areas, I randomly planted a bunch of Green Arrow Snap Pea seeds. I might as well take advantage of the free space.

I potted up a Pearl Blueberry that I bought a few weeks ago at the Grocery Outlet from it’s 4″ pot to a 2 gallon pot. We don’t seen to have much luck with Blueberries, so I will try growing these in the front yard where it will have lots of sun. I’ll let it get a little bit bigger then move it to a larger pot if it gets too big for the 2 gallon pot.

I planted a couple Flower Mixes into two 10″x10″ trays. I haven’t had much luck with Flower Mixes sown in cell packs, so I hope the larger tray will work better.

Fennel

I took the Fennel that has been regrowing from side shoots from the 3 gallon fabric pots and potted them up into Flexible Garden Tubs. The fabric pot just dried up too easily and the plant kept wilting. Hopefully, this bigger tub will keep the soil moist, so I don’t have to water it so frequently.

Ethiopian Kale Planted

I planted a 4″ Ethiopian Kale into an empty Self Watering 5 Gallon Bucket.

Malunggay Tuber

I thought my Malunggay (Moringa) was dead, so I started to dig it out so I can reuse the pot. When I dug it out, I saw a tuber!!! OMG! This made me so happy. I covered back up the roots and can’t wait for it to grow back. Just to make sure, I checked my other Malunggay plants and they all had tubers! I didn’t know Malunggay grew tubers!

How to be a Gardener…

I discovered a great BBC gardening series on YouTube (uploaded by MrGrizzerBear) that I never heard of before called How to be a Gardener. I haven’t watched all the episodes, but I really like the first one I saw which was Episode 7 “The Productive Garden“. It showed vegetable gardening throughout the year. I created a playlist with the eight episodes so I can find them easily.

Stitch Modern 2013 Photos

I just finished editing photos from the various Stitch Modern Quilt Show events and uploaded it to the “Stitch Modern 2013 Quilt Show” photoset.

Stitch Modern 2013 Opening Reception

I also have the photo in individual photosets:

Setup Day
Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Opening Reception
Saturday, February 2, 2013

Modern Improv Quilting and Process Lecture
Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Textile Design Panel Discussion
Tuesday, February 9, 2013

Family Activity Day
Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sew Day
Sunday, February 10, 2013

Geos Quilt and Stitch Modern 2013 Opening Tonight…

Geos

Our guild East Bay Modern Quilt Guild is throwing an opening party tonight (Saturday, Feb 2, 2013, 6-9pm) for our Stitch Modern quilt show at the Piedmont Center of the Arts. Come by and see my Geos quilt and 28+ other wonderful quilts created by our talented members. We will serve up some snacks and drinks and admission is free. More information on the Facebook Event page or on my previous blog entry.